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Cato warns the Senate about Caesar, in Plutarch

c. 50 BCE, Rome (the Senate). As Plutarch tells it, over a century later.

Where and when

c. 50 BCERome (the Senate)

about 2,075 years ago

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Cato the Younger

, Rome (the Senate)As Plutarch tells it, over a century later

In plain words, ours

Now, Cato shouted, what I warned you about is happening. The man is finally using force, with armies he got by cheating the state.

Now shouted Cato, those things are come to pass which I foretold to you, and the man is at last resorting to open compulsion, using the forces which he got by deceiving and cheating the state.

Plutarch, Life of Cato the Younger 51.5Translated by Bernadotte Perrin (1919)Read the full passage (Plutarch, Life of Cato the Younger 51.5, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

As Plutarch tells it, over a century later: around 50 BCE the Senate argued over Caesar's command. Cato warned that Caesar himself was the danger. Caesar's friends demanded that Pompey also give up his armies and provinces, or Caesar would not give up his.

Checked claim by claim against: the passage around the quote.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. 52 BCEabout 2 years earlier Vercingetorix surrenders to Caesar at Alesia Same years
  2. c. 50 BCEThis momentCato warns the Senate about Caesar, in Plutarch
  3. 49 BCE1 year later Caesar crosses the Rubicon with his army Same years
  4. 49 BCE1 year later Caesar puts the republic's dignity before life Same years
  5. 48 BCEabout 2 years later Caesar defeats Pompey at Pharsalus Same years
  6. 48–47 BCEabout 2 years later Caesar takes Cleopatra's side in Egypt Same years
  7. 46 BCEabout 4 years later Cato's death at Utica, as Plutarch tells it More from Cato the Younger
  8. 46 BCEabout 4 years later Cato's last night, as Plutarch tells it More from Cato the Younger
  9. 46 BCEabout 4 years later Cato's last night, as Plutarch tells it More from Cato the Younger
  10. 44 BCEabout 6 years later Caesar and the soothsayer, in Suetonius Also in Rome
  11. 44 BCEabout 6 years later Caesar on the best death, as Plutarch tells it Also in Rome
  12. 44 BCEabout 6 years later The stabbing of Caesar, as Suetonius tells it Also in Rome
  13. 44 BCE, written laterabout 6 years later Cicero on Cato's choice to die Also about tyrants and the Thirty
  14. 62 CEabout 111 years later Tacitus on Nero's answer to Seneca Also about tyrants and the Thirty

Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

Then, assailing Caesar’s plans from the outset and revealing clearly all his purpose, as if he were his fellow conspirator and partner and not his enemy, he declared that it was not the sons of Germans or Celts whom they must fear, but Caesar himself, if they were in their right minds, and so moved and incited his hearers that the friends of Caesar were sorry that by having the letter read in the senate they had given Cato an opportunity for just arguments and true denunciations. However, nothing was done, but it was merely said that it were well to give Caesar a successor. And when Caesar’s friends demanded that Pompey also, as well as Caesar, should lay down his arms and give up his provinces, or else that Caesar should not do so either,

The quote: Now shouted Cato, those things are come to pass which I foretold to you, and the man is at last resorting to open compulsion, using the forces which he got by deceiving and cheating the state.

Outside the senate-house, however, Cato could accomplish nothing, since the people wished all along that Caesar should have the chief power; and although Cato had the senate under his influence, it was afraid of the people. But when Ariminum was occupied and Caesar was reported to be marching against the city with an army, then all eyes were turned upon Cato, both those of the common people and those of Pompey as well; they realised that he alone had from the outset foreseen, and first openly foretold, the designs of Caesar.

Plutarch, Life of Cato the Younger 51.3–52.1Translated by Bernadotte Perrin (1919)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
c. 50 BCE. The Senate fights over Caesar's command in the last years before the civil war of 49 BCE.
Whose words
As Plutarch tells it, over a century later.
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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